MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Election officials reported no major problems with the first Alabama election where voters had to show a photo ID, but one voter group disagreed.

"I haven't heard of any complaints about photo ID," said Secretary of State Jim Bennett, Alabama's chief election official.

A 2011 law requires voters to show a photo ID, such as a driver's license or passport, but it wasn't implemented until Tuesday's primary election. Republican proponents had said the law would help prevent voter fraud, while Democratic opponents said it would make voting harder for the poor and elderly.

Bennett, a Republican, said his office spent about $900,000 on a campaign to educate voters about the requirements and to issue more than 2,300 photo IDs for people who had none.

Empower Alabama, a group that registers and mobilizes voters, reported problems. In one case, 93-year-old Willie Mims of Brewton being turned away from the polls for lack of a photo ID, said Jenny McCharen, the group's digital director.

"He's actually been voting since World War II," she said. "This is the first election he was not able to vote in."

She said Mims, a World War II veteran, was not offered an opportunity to vote a provisional ballot even though the law requires it. A provisional ballot is counted if a person produces proper identification later.

Bradley Davidson, one of Empower Alabama's founders, said some people were asked specifically for a driver's license, when other forms of photo ID are acceptable.

A Democratic state senator who opposed the voter ID legislation in 2011, Bobby Singleton of Greensboro, said he conducted a voter education program in his west Alabama district before Tuesday's primary and he had not heard of problems.

But he said the primary had low turnout, with participants who usually vote in every election. He said the test will come in the general election, when the turnout is traditionally much larger.

"If there are going to be problems, you will see them in November," Singleton said.

In rural Lowndes County, Probate Judge John E. Hulett said he heard of only one person without a required ID. He said the man was able to vote because poll workers knew him and could attest to his identity, which is allowed under the law.

In Montgomery, Clifford Terrell, pastor of Gospel Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, said he had no problem producing a photo ID to vote. "I think it is imperative to show an ID. We show an ID for anything significant," he said.

Joan Sampson, a retired school teacher, said she showed a photo ID to vote in Montgomery, but didn't like it. "It's a very bad law because we are United States citizens," she said.

Bernard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP, said he saw no problems while serving as a poll worker Tuesday in Limestone County in north Alabama, but he said voters at his polling place were mostly middle-class citizens who wouldn't have any trouble getting an ID.

In one incident that did not involve voter ID, a gun rights supporter in Alabaster took a loaded pistol to go to the polls, but poll workers called a deputy who made the man store his gun in his truck. The polling place had a sign in the door saying firearms are prohibited.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.